University of West Florida Leave

Annual leave accrual rates for full-time employees are noted in the chart below (with proportionate accrual for less than full-time employees). An academic year (39 weeks) employee and Other Personal Services (OPS) employees do not accrue annual leave.

Annual Leave Accruals

Employee Type	Hours Accrued Per Pay Period	Year End Maximums	Maximum
Executive Service	9.2 hours	480	480
12 Month Non-Unit Faculty	7 hours	352	352
University Work Force	7 hours	352	352

All requests for annual leave shall be submitted by the employee to the supervisor as far in advance as possible. Approval of the dates on which an employee wishes to take annual leave shall be at the discretion of the supervisor and shall be subject to the consideration of departmental/unit and organization scheduling.

Bi-weekly sick leave accrual for full-time employees shall be as noted below (with proportionate accrual for less than full-time). Years of service for purposes of sick leave accrual are limited to service at the University of West Florida. Other Personal Services (OPS) employees are not eligible to accrue sick leave.

Sick Leave Accruals

Employee Type	0-5 Years	>5-10 Years	>10-20 Years	>20 Years
Executive Service	5 hours	6 hours	7 hours	7 hours
Non-Unit Faculty	4 hours	5 hours	6 hours	7 hours
In-Unit Faculty	4 hours	4 hours	4 hours	4 hours
University Work Force	4 hours	5 hours	6 hours	7 hours

Use of sick leave is authorized for the employee's personal illness, injury, exposure to a contagious disease, a disability where the employee is unable to perform assigned duties or appointments with health care providers. Sick leave is also authorized for the illness, injury, appointments with health care providers or death of a member of the employee's immediate family which is defined as spouse, grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, children (including State authorized foster-care children), and grandchildren of both the employee and the employee's spouse.

The Sick Leave Pool is open to full-time, part-time, leave accruing employees. Other Personal Services (OPS) employees are not eligible to enter the Sick Leave Pool. Employees who join the pool may, upon depletion of their sick, annual, and compensatory leave credits, and after the approval of the Sick Leave Pool Committee, draw upon the Pool for their personal catastrophic/serious illness, accident or injury. Participation in the Pool is voluntary on the part of any eligible employee. The Pool is for the benefit of eligible participating employees without regard to pay plans and funding source.

The Sick Leave Pool Procedures‌ outline all the details of the Pool, including its purpose, administration, and use. All employees who wish to enroll in the Sick Leave Pool must submit an application to the program. Prior to being allowed to participate, an employee must have completed one-year of employment with UWF and have a minimum of 64 hours of sick leave on the books. Upon entering the pool, a 16 hour contribution (pro-rated for part-time) is made and deducted from the employee's leave balances by Human Resources. If an employee leaves the university by resignation or retirement, a one-time donation‌ may be made of 16 hours directly into the Sick Leave Pool.

Participating employees may request sick leave pool credits‌.

Contact Tony Lindberg for more information at 850.474.2610 or Tony Lindberg.

Family Medical Leave

When an employee goes on medical or parental leave the employee should contact the Human Resources Benefits Office. While on medical or parental leave the following guidelines apply:

The employee should speak to the Benefits Office to determine how much leave should be used each bi-weekly payroll period to continue paying for benefits. The employee has 31 days from the first day of leave to change or cancel benefit elections. Upon their return to work, the employee has 31 days to reenroll in benefit elections. If an employee is on family medical leave in a leave without pay status, the employee must submit a personal check or money order to pay the employee share of premiums to the Benefits Office by the 7th day of the month prior to the month of coverage. The employee is entitled to the State's contribution for health and life insurance premiums for six months during the period the employee is in leave without pay status per calendar year.

For information pertaining to Family Medical Leave, contact Adrian Rowley in Human Resources at 850.474.2604 or Adrian Rowley.

Requesting Paid or Unpaid Leave for Medical/Parental/FMLA

Prepare Memo to the Assistant Director of Benefits in Human Resources

1. The memo to the Assistant Director should be from the individual requesting leave through the immediate supervisor. (Departmental policy may require that the Dean or the Director acknowledge such requests prior to being submitted to Human Resources)
2. The memo must contain beginning and ending dates for the absence. Leave may be approved for up to six months and may be extended to twelve months as circumstances warrant. Per Policy HR-18.02 the university defines the 12 month measurement period for Family and Medical Leave Act as a calendar year. Leave requested for periods crossing over calendar years will be considered two separate requests. 
3. You must state the nature of the request.
   1. Personal Medical
   2. Parental (Birth or Adoption)
   3. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
   4. Leave of Absences (Non-health related)
4. For all FMLA leaves, a (confidential) health care provider certification must be completed and returned to the Attendance and Leave Coordinator in Human Resources. There are two different forms depending if it is personal medical leave or family medical leave‌. Be sure to have the correct form completed and returned to Human Resources. 

Meet with or Call the Benefits/Leave of Absence Representative

1. Arrange for continuation of insurance as needed.
2. Calculate the amount of leave use needed to cover the employee portion of continuing insurance premiums. If leave balances are insufficient to cover employee insurance premiums, arrangements must be made for mailing a personal check.
3. Prepare a tentative schedule of leave use during the absence.
4. Prepare leave reports in advance and arrange for them to be submitted when due for the affected pay periods.
5. Coordinate Personnel Action Form to cover period of absence with department representative.
6. Exempt University Work Force and Faculty employees are required to submit an email of total hours paid/unpaid each pay period to the Payroll and Human Resources Office if the employee is taking unpaid leave.

Extensions of Leave

1. Extensions of leave may be granted by reinitiating the process beginning with sending a request for an extension to the Assistant Director of Human Resources, Tony Lindberg.

Additional FMLA Materials

• FMLA Employee Guide

Administrative leave counts as hours of pay, but does not count as hours of work for overtime purposes. Administrative leave includes the following: bereavement, jury duty, court appearances (University related), emergency closing, emergency response, administrative action (investigation/discipline), military training (not active duty), voting, and volunteer service. More details on each of these types of administrative leave can be found in the HR Policy 18.02 - "Hours of Work and Benefits".

Hours missed should be recorded as Administrative Leave on the Timesheet or Leave Report and the reason and date(s) should be noted in the Comments section (i.e. Jury Summons, Witness Subpoena, Emergency Closing, etc.)

Bereavement - Employees are entitled to three workdays of administrative leave for the death of members of their immediate family, as defined in subsection (5)(d)2.b. Immediate family members are defined as the spouse, grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, children (including State authorized foster-care children), and grandchildren of both the employee and the employee's spouse. Leave requests shall include the name and relationship of the deceased immediate family member and may be taken up to six months after the date of death.

Court Appearances/Jury Duty - Administrative leave, with pay, will be granted for jury duty when appropriate documentation from the Clerk of the Court is provided or, for witnesses subpoenaed or required to appear in court or in administrative matters related to their duties as University employees. In such instances, witness fees shall be retained by the employee. Administrative leave will not be granted for appearances as an expert witness unless the payment for the expert witness testimony is remitted to the University.

Emergency Closing - Administrative leave shall be provided for official emergency closing of University facilities. Special Compensatory leave shall be provided to eligible employees required to perform essential services during the emergency closing. Only employees scheduled to work during the time of the emergency closing shall be provided administrative leave. If a closing is announced, be sure to check the News and Announcements section of our main Human Resources web page for specific details regarding reporting hours and completing Timesheets.

Emergency Response - The President/designee may grant up to two days of administrative leave for civil disorder or disaster for an employee who is a member of a volunteer emergency response team.

Military Training - Employees who are members of the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve, shall, upon presentation of a copy of the employee's official orders issued pursuant to the authority of Title 10 or Title 32, U.S. Code, be granted Administrative Leave during the period in which the employee is ordered to active or inactive duty for training. Such leave, whether continuous or intermittent, shall not exceed 17 working days in any one Federal fiscal year (October 1 - September 30). A copy of the official orders shall be maintained in the employee's personnel file.

Voting - The President/designee may provide administrative leave up to one hour for voting in public elections; the employee must provide appropriate documentation.

Volunteer Service - With appropriate supervisory approval, employees may be provided up to two hours of administrative leave per calendar month for service within their communities. Such service may be provided through school assistance or as a volunteer member of a community service organization.

Administrative Action - When the President/designee has reason to believe that an employee’s presence on the job may adversely affect the operation of the University or cause injury to the employee or others, the employee may immediately be placed on leave pending investigation. The President/designee may place an employee on administrative leave during the time between a Notice of Proposed Reduction of Pay, Suspension, Termination or Dismissal and the effective date of such action. Refer also to the Human Resources Policy on Standards of Conduct.

Military Leave

When an employee goes on military leave the employee should contact the Human Resources Benefits Office. While on military leave the following guidelines apply:

The employee has 31 days from the first day of leave to change or cancel benefit elections. Upon their return to work, the employee has 31 days to reenroll in benefit elections. If an employee on military leave receives more income from the military than the employee's salary at the University of West Florida, the employee must use annual or sick leave in order for premiums to be deducted from their pay warrant or pay premiums by personal check or money order. If an employee on military leave receives less income from the military than the employee's salary at the University of West Florida, the employee will receive the difference between their military pay and UWF salary as an income supplement. Benefit deductions will automatically be deducted from this income supplement provided by UWF. However, the employee should ensure that the income supplement is enough to cover the employee's benefit elections. If payroll deduction is not available, the employee must submit a personal check or money order to pay the premiums for coverage to the Benefits Office by the 7th day of the month prior to the month of coverage.

Military Active Duty - Employees who are members of the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve, shall, upon presentation of a copy of the employee's official orders issued pursuant to the authority of Title 10 or Title 32, U.S. Code, be granted leave during the period in which the employee is ordered to active duty or active duty for training.

Employees should contact Tony Lindberg in Human Resources, 850.474.2610, for assistance in establishing this leave.

Leave Without Pay

When an employee is in leave without pay (LWOP) status, including a sabbatical, the employee should contact the Human Resources' Benefits Office. While in leave without pay status the following guidelines apply:

The employee has 31 days from the first day of leave to change or cancel benefit elections. Upon their return to work, the employee has 31 days to reenroll in benefit elections. The employee must submit a personal check or money order to pay the premiums for coverage to the Benefits Office by the 7th day of the month prior to the month of coverage. An employee on personal leave is not eligible to receive the State's contribution for health and life insurance. The employee is responsible for the paying the entire premium amount by personal check or money order.

An employee may, upon request, be granted leave without pay for a period not to exceed 12 calendar months, unless the granting of such leave is inconsistent with the best interests of the University.

Please contact Tony Lindberg for more information at 850.474.2610 or Tony Lindberg.

Employees of the university are covered by Workers' Compensation for job-related injuries. A non-OPS employee who has been certified as unable to work by the workers' compensation physician shall remain in full pay status for a period up to a maximum of 40 hours without being required to use accrued leave. All injuries are to be reported to the supervisor, and an Employee Report of Injury must be submitted to the Human Resources office immediately. Additional information on job related injuries is provided on the Workers' Compensation web page.

Florida law requires the university to allow employees to take three (3) working days of leave within a 12-month period if the employee or a family or household member is the victim of domestic violence and if the leave is sought for specific reasons related to the domestic violence. This policy‌ covers faculty, staff, and Other Personal Services (OPS) employees who have been employed for at least three (3) months. 

• UWF Workplace Flexibility Program Manual